Facets of the Artist Statement

As I promised, even though it was suppose to be on the store blog, today's post.

In the store, I do framing. I do not have much space and so do not keep a lot of supplies around. It takes me longer to frame something, but my goal is to work with the local artists and we're a pretty laid back bunch.

So, just recently, a lady that I'd met at a show, (she was volunteering for the Humane Society), brought me a piece to mat. it was already framed, but had a white mat. She liked the white, but thought it washed out a lot of the color on this very pastel-ish print. I had a light brown, textured mat I put on it that made the sand dunes pop. When she brought it in, I'm afraid I had not paid attention to the artist, just to what would make this piece look better. As I was matting it, I realized that not only did I know the name, but have spent quite a bit of spare time in this artist's presence. She's a friend and I actually have other pieces of her work hanging in the store for sale! When the person came to pick up the piece, I told her I knew the artist and shared some of the small vignettes about what a neat "person" she was, how loving and how giving, and such a good friend. She left clutching a treasure, not a painting because she now knew that this artist was a living, breathing person that she might have talked to or passed on the street. I'm going to be talking to that artist today and requesting an artist statement of some sort that I can pass on, along with the paintings of hers that are for sale here. I might be preaching to the choir, but, and don't get me wrong, I don't have one yet, either, I think an artist's statement might be a very necessary facet of living the artist's life and selling your artwork.
Karen